Paper Trails from the Wasteland: Capitol Wasteland
by annamramey1995
Summary: Years after the Lone Wanderer's departure, nothing is left but the trail of paper she left behind. Diaries, holotapes, and much more, her story can be found for those willing to look for it. (Female Lone Wanderer) Neutral-Evil character. I wrote this for fun, but would love to hear what you have to say! R&R please!
1. The Vault

_Author's Note:  
So...I don't know if anyone will ever read this, but I've decided to post it anyway. For a little backstory, this is (sort of) a re-write of a silly little story my brother and I wrote together a very VERY long time ago. For those interested it can be found here: s/7763450/1/Fallout-The-Book. This is basically a diary and other types of writing centering around my original fallout character and her interactions with other character. I wrote this for fun at work, and I've always believed it's important to hear what other people think about my writing. It does center around an original character...so if you don't like that, this story isn't for you. Thanks!_

 _Anna  
-_

July 13, 2268

Today is my tenth birthday. It pretty much sucked, especially with the party. It is embarrassing that, despite how much my classmates seem to hate me, my dad was 'forced' to invite them. Thank god at least Amata was there. I don't really know what I'd do without her. Butch was making an ass of himself (what else is new?) and tried to steal my sweet roll. It is easy to rile him up, but I guess maybe I'd have less bruises if I just put up with him. Still, despite my standing here in the vault I have some pride left and I refuse to let Butch take that from me.

Dad got me two gifts. Or three, if you count allowing me to leave the party early. First he got me a BB gun. I don't think it is really that practical but It is fun to shoot. Again, it's another thing to kill the boredom... not that I'll ever be able to go outside the vault. But still, it is great to know that I have something no one else is allowed to have. Not even Amata, and she's the overseer's daughter. Of course, it is a toy and won't do much harm to people (not that I'd want it to) so it isn't a real form of defense.

The other gift is you. God that sounds stupid. I mean, he got me a diary holotape to use with my terminal and pip-boy. I'm not really sure if diary keeping is my thing. I feel like Butch would just use it to embarrass me if he ever found it. Okay...that's it I guess.

Signing off.

Katherine

January 1st, 2274

Happy New years! Wow I haven't written in here in forever. There are two reasons I am now.

1). My dad has been asking me how It's going. Making broad statements about how he's sure its sooo long by now, and doesn't it feel nice to get it all out?

2). I finally have something to write about!

I've been crushing on Freddie Gomez for years it seems, granted there isn't much to choose from, but I really did like him. He is one of the only people around here that doesn't look down or pick on me. While he's mostly ambivalent, I still appreciate that he isn't outright hostile. He's actually downright pleasant when Butch isn't around.

Well, I'll just come right out and say it here then. Freddie and I are a couple now. The only caveat is that it has to be a secret. I'm not sure I really like that part, but I'm hoping he'll grow past it someday. For now I'm content to just be with him, even if that mostly means sneaking off to places where we can be alone. I'm so happy I could die!

February 14th, 2274

Valentine's day isn't really widely celebrated anymore. But here in the vault, we are awarded some luxuries. So I was expecting Freddie to have something planned. I don't have much, but I painted him a portrait and baked him a sweet roll. We agreed to meet down on the reactor level after all the workers had gone home for the day.

He seemed to like my gifts for him, but when I asked him what he'd gotten for me he just went red. I guess at some point I was expecting our relationship to go physical, but I had no idea that Freddie would be keen on making it like that so soon! I have to say that it shocked me, because he's mostly too shy to even kiss me. That makes me think that someone put the idea in his head, but even so I didn't want to deny him.

At the time I told him that it wasn't out of the question, just that I wanted my first time to be a little more romantic. I certainly didn't want it to be down in the reactor level, where anyone could interrupt us. When I said that there was some weird mix of relief and disappointment on his face, which I had no idea how to interpret and still don't. After that the date got better, and we stayed there a couple hours just talking. It was nice.

If he asks again, maybe I'll say yes.

July 13, 2274

I know I don't write in here often but I'm really fed up with Freddie. He promised to come see me for my birthday but he flaked because, coincidentally, Butch offered to let him hang with them. I sat waiting in the Diner for almost an hour, because I really wanted to believe he wouldn't ditch me. I'm guessing the secret part of our relationship isn't so secret anymore.

I hate both of them.

August 3, 2274

We all took the G.O.A.T.

It seemed kind of pointless to me, especially when all the questions came way out of left field. But I guess you're looking at the vault's next Marriage Counsellor. I'm not really sure if that's my forte, especially because I'd have to be counselling my peers. God only knows what type of advice I'd give them. But I do like talking to people. Especially to Freddie when he isn't trying to impress Butch.

Thank god that I passed this thing. I've never heard of anyone failing, but if it was possible I'm sure I'd have managed it. I felt bad for Freddie because he seemed crazy nervous about it. On my way up to turn in my test, I tried to help him. He got stuck on the last question, for god's sake! I haven't got a clue if that question even meant anything, but he seemed so relieved when I told him what to put down.

September 1, 2274

Before class this morning Freddie practically ambushed me in the hallway. He said that he really needed to talk to me in the supply closet. That's pretty weird to hear from him, because that supply closet isn't really the most clandestine place, especially during the day. At the time I just figured it was something small. I also figured he didn't know what most people used that closet for. I was wrong on both counts.

When I got in there fifteen minutes later, having asked Mr. Brotch if I could go to the bathroom, he was looking incredibly nervous. I asked him what he wanted, and I don't mind saying I sounded pretty ticked off. He sometimes ditched class to impress Butch, but I wasn't in the habit. No doubt it would get back to my dad and he'd never let it go.

He said that we'd been going out together for months now, and it was probably time we took it to the next level. I kid you not, that is how he said it. He also made it seem like, because my dad is the doctor, I could just steal any drug I wanted to avoid pregnancy. Of course I said no. Not in a broom closet and certainly not during school. But for once he was persistent.

I don't really know when I lost control of the situation, but he kept telling me that I was beautiful. Honestly it was the most elegantly he's ever spoken to me. I argued at first, but I can't deny that the whole thing seemed exciting. I have been thinking about it, and I guess in the end I wanted to as much as he did. In the end, I caved and said he could if we were quick. I was supposed to be in the bathroom. I'm not sure what to say about the whole experience.

First of all, it was rather short. I guess I shouldn't have worried about being late. The second was that it was far less pleasurable than I'd hoped. In the end I did have to go to the bathroom to clean up. I couldn't look him in the eye for the rest of the day. I think he must have been having the same problem because he didn't come to class at all.

September 4, 2274

I'm pretty sure that Butch put him up to it now. I was on cleaning duty today, and Butch came into the bathroom as I was cleaning it. Our rooms are fairly close together, with basically just the bathroom splitting them up. There are two doors, one that leads to my hallway and room (which I still share with my dad) and his and his mom's. I was closer to my door, just finishing up mopping the floor when Butch comes in.

He says, and I shit you not, "I hear you'll fuck anybody now. Is that true, because if so I'd like a turn."

I was mortified. I shouldn't have engaged him, I know, but I asked him why the hell he thought that. Even then I think I knew, on some level, that Freddie had told him. But Butch went on to describe what he wanted to do to me. Honestly, I was pretty uncomfortable but I pretended I was just angry. Finally, I said something like, "What makes you think I want to fuck you?" Or something like that, and he just smiled.

Then he says that he knows that I had sex with Freddy in the supply closet. He said that pretty much makes me a slut. He also said that pretty much everyone knew. I couldn't stop myself. I went after him hard, punching and kicking him until he fell down. I'm not that big, but Butch isn't really that strong when it comes down to it. I shouldn't have done it, I know, but officer Gomez came upon us fighting and broke it up. Butch looked pretty bad, so he got sent to my dad. Officer Gomez told me that I should probably go speak with the Overseer, and that he'd have to report me. I managed to convince him otherwise, thankfully without telling him the truth. But there is no doubt that when my dad gets home from work he'll know about what happened. With both Butch and Freddie.

This really is the worst day of my life.

September 7, 2274

God, so much has happened lately. That, and honestly I've been too depressed to write anything. Everyone pretty much knows about me and Freddie but he's still denying it. Butch and his friends have been egging him on, and lately he's been downright rude to me during class and mealtimes. It is really driving me crazy. My dad sat me down and talked to me about Freddie. He said that he was disappointed in me for doing it, and that he wanted to give me a check up to make sure everything was alright. God that was embarrassing, having your father asking you questions about your sex life. Of course, I don't really have one since I've done it once.

FYI I'm not pregnant, nor do I have any STDs. I also don't have any desire to sleep with Freddie again. Ever.

The Litany of bullshit that Butch spews at me is getting dirtier. Amata is mad at me because I never told her about Freddie. Everyone is calling me a slut now. Dad won't ever let me play sick, as if that is some punishment. I can't go anywhere without hearing how Butch and his Tunnel Snakes can show me a 'real' tunnel snake if I just meet them in the supply closet. Worst of all, Freddie told me that he had told Butch about us only because Butch promised to let him into the Tunnel Snakes if he did. I can't believe he'd do this to me, and for once I told him that. I said that if he ever wanted to see me again that he'd have to acknowledge me in class and stop letting Butch push him around.

I don't know what I was expecting when I told Freddie I didn't want to be with him unless we come out in the open. Sometimes he tells me he loves me, and then sometimes he's so aloof it would be a miracle if he actually cared. I think Butch must be giving him a hard time about me, because he said we should just break up. I acted angry at the time, but if I'm honest that hurt.

I just shoved him, and said some stuff I regret, and stormed off. On the way out, I caught Butch and Paulie laughing. It really is grating that he is still acting like a kid. Our education is over this year, and we're training now already for our profession. When will he grow out of this stupid bullying.

I guess I can firmly say that I hope he never gets married.

November 31, 2274

I don't know what it was about this year, but I certainly had a lot to say. Christmas is only a few weeks away, which might be nice after this horrible year. Amata has finally forgiven me, which happened quite a while ago. The only stipulation was that I was supposed to tell her everything about what happened with me and Freddie. At first it was too difficult to talk about, but it was nice by the end to have someone to vent and share my feelings to.

Amata really is my only friend.

Things with Freddie have gotten a little better, but I still refuse to speak to him. Butch is still holding that whole ordeal over my head, but with Amata's support it doesn't bother me as much. In hindsight the whole thing was a bad idea. I never should have agreed to keep it a secret, because in the end that made the whole thing worse. I don't know if I can ever forgive Freddie and Butch for what they did to me, thank god I don't have to sit near either of them in class.

July 14, 2277

Dad is acting weird. It was my nineteenth birthday today, and he insisted we have a party just the two of us. I was fine with that, and he got everything together for that evening. He had only just recently applied for separate quarters, so we aren't living in the same room anymore. Sometimes it is weird not to see my dad every day, but I'm pretty caught up in training most days so his absence isn't so pronounced.

He turned up today with a small cake and a gift, which he hadn't wrapped and just hidden behind his back. At least he'd learned not the throw me parties after years of awkward failures. He told me that Jonas couldn't come because the overseer demanded that someone be in the clinic at all times, which included off hours. I always thought that was stupid, because if anything happened during the night how hard was it to go get the doctor?

The cake was nice, especially because they're incredibly hard to get. For this year dad got me a new set of paints. I enjoy painting landscapes from prewar photos, they help to brighten up my room. Sometimes I do imagine what the outside world is like. Part of me believes that it is growing green again, and that one day soon the Overseer will let us all out when it is safe. Of course, I know that isn't really the case. Paints are fairly hard to come by too, and I stored them away carefully with the others.

Before he left, dad made sure to give me Mom's favorite quote. He said that I'd need it. Then he went on to tell me how proud he was of me. How I'd grown into a young woman, yadda yadda yadda. At the time I just went red and brushed him off. It wasn't until later that I realized that was weird for him to say. He was talking like he was going somewhere. But really, that is impossible.


	2. The Wasteland Survival Guide

August 17, 2277

I don't even know where to begin. Dad is gone. I've been kicked out of the vault. I'm not sure what I'm going to do next. I can't believe twelve hours ago I was safe in my vault, and now I'm huddled up in the remains of a destroyed house, trying to figure out what I'm going to do next.

Dad just left last night. And when the vault came awake with him not in it, the Overseer went crazy. He killed Jonas... he would have killed me too if it weren't for Amata. I had to leave, and even so I killed some people. I killed security officers. This whole thing is just crazy.

The whole thing started when Amata woke me up this morning, and told me what was going on. From there she handed me a pistol, and told me to pack up my things as quickly as possible. I took everything I could think of. Spare clothes, stimpacks, my old BB gun and baseball bat. Reluctantly I left my paints here, but I did take my old sketchbook and a charcoal pencil, mom's quote, and an old picture of me and Dad. Maybe if there is beauty out here somewhere I can draw it. Doubtful, but it seems like a nice thought.

As I was leaving I came across Butch, who was absolutely hysterical. Apparently, he is afraid of Radroaches. Part of me wanted to leave him there, and not help his mother. It would have been just desserts for him. But in the end I couldn't bring myself to do it. I saved his mother by killing the RadRoaches attacking her, but that doesn't mean I have to put up with the ridiculous nonsense he was spewing about being my friend. He gave me his stupid jacket and everything. At first, I wanted to give it back to him, but a leather jacket would be useful in the wasteland so I kept it.

The plan was to get out through the overseer's office, and by the time I got there he was interrogating his own daughter. I had no idea what to do, so I did my best to help her. The Overseer sicced the guard on me, Officer Mack, and I had to kill him. After that Amata give me the password for her dad's terminal and I was out of there. And let me just say that Wasteland is generous for what I found out there. There was nothing and no one when I first came out. What is even worse, is there is stuff out here. The first thing I did was look for a place to hide, and even now I hear people walking around out there. I need to find out where to go, but I know one thing for sure.

I have to find my dad.

August 18, 2277

Yesterday was pretty hard, but I finally found a solution. After groveling in that wreckage for a while, I finally realized I needed to do something or I would die out here for sure. I still have my Pip-Boy, and from there I was able to get a lay of the land (at least what it was like before the bombs dropped.) When I finally peeked out of my hiding spot, I did see a giant metal thing not too far from me. If the signs around me were to be believed I was in the remains of a prewar town called Springvale. It was kind of sad to look at it now, with all the broken and gutted buildings. I'm sure that it was very pretty in its prime. Down the road a little farther was a school, but some pretty unsettling people were milling around over there. I guess it is good that I had the presence of mind to hide before breaking down.

With nothing better to do, I decided to head for the settlement, which turned out to be called Megaton. Unfortunately for me, I might have caught up with my dad if I had gone there immediately. With my luck I doubt it. Megaton isn't that great, but the people here seem friendly. They even have a sheriff, who introduced himself to me right away. Lucas Simms.

No one around here wants to do anything for free though, and when I asked him if he'd seen my father his reply was vague. I'm sure he's seen him, but he also told me in no uncertain terms that he wouldn't help unless I did something for him. He wanted me to try disarming the live atomic warhead in the center of town, but I don't have the know how to do that. I told him so too.

Whatever, screw him.

Instead, I went up to the bar where I hoped Dad had stopped. Here I was startled by some sort of Zombie thing, but he seemed friendly enough. I feel bad about my initial reaction to him, because he seems to have it pretty rough around here. I apologized for my initial reaction, and he seemed to take it as genuine but when I asked him if he had seen my dad he clammed up. A little more convincing was necessary, but he finally let it slip that Moriarty had spoken to him, but he wasn't here anymore. He gave me the password for his terminal, where I discovered that he was headed to Galaxy News Radio in D.C.

I did talk to Moriarty, in the end. And from him I found out that Dad wasn't from the vault, and neither am I initially. I was born out here, and that is when my Dad got into the vault. I didn't even get there until I was almost one year old. It seems crazy to me that they would keep something like that hidden from me. Still, it at least makes sense why Dad would be brave enough to leave the vault. Moriarty was a creep through, and the sooner I got away from him, the better.

I still didn't have any money, though. And if I wanted to get a place to stay I would have to earn something. My next stop was the General Store called Crater Side Supply. The lady in there was exuberant, far to much for my mood anyway. But in exchange for answering a few of her questions she gave me an armored vault suit. Even better yet she offered me a job helping her with research, which would also pay money. I agreed to this as well.

Moira let me stay with her, since I had no other place to sleep, which is where I am now. Hopefully I can get used to living out here, because it isn't going to be easy. Thank God, I took all that time practicing my aim with that old BB gun. It would suck to be completely defenseless.

August 31, 2277

Wow! When I signed up to work with Moira I had no idea it would be so trying or difficult. I guess I should also explain what we are researching. It's called the Wasteland Survival Guide, and it is supposed to help people (like me) survive out here. I thought it was an admirable cause (and I needed the money) so I decided to help out. The premise? Just researching for the chapters in her book. That, my friend, is easier said than done.

In the last week or so I've helped her with about nine chapters. I'm not sure if there will be more, but she seems to be out of things to send me on. The first thing she had me do was go to the Super-Duper Mart to look for food/medicine. In theory I guess this seems like a good place to start, but it is also pretty obvious that a supermarket would be the first place most people would look for food. This proved to be the case, because I wasn't the only one there. By the time I got to the supermarket, there were plenty of raiders patrolling the area. I'm not too strong, so I ended up sneaking in there to grab the food. At first no one spotted me, but on my way to the pharmacy one of the raiders patrolling the shelves spotted me. I was lucky, because I immediately was able to dive for cover as the gunfire began. I still am not sure how I made it out of there. Thank god most of them didn't have guns.

By the time I got back, I was sure that the hard part was over. Unfortunately, this isn't really the case.

She sent me to a place called Minefield. And yes, it was as bad as it sounds. Not only did she want me to make it to the center of town without blowing myself to bits, I was supposed to disarm one of those fuckers to give her to study. That on its own would have been enough, but there was some sort of sniper living there too. I'd consider myself lucky yet again, because his first shot missed me and I was able to take a more covered route to him. I obviously wouldn't be writing this if I'd been killed outright. The town proved to be a goldmine, because not only was I able to grab most of the landmines that sniper had set up, but there was a treasure trove of houses full of valuable loot. I walked away with much more than I started with.

When I got back, it didn't really shock me that she wanted to study the effects of the radiation I'd soaked up while doing her stupid chores. Worse, was that I was taking too good a care of myself by taking rad-x daily, and I had to spend a couple hours by the atomic bomb in the center of town. It didn't end there, because when I finally dragged myself back up to Moira she wanted to study my condition first. Suffice to say, it was at this point I really began to regret agreeing to help her.

I thought I'd catch a break when we moved on to animals. But in most ways, it was just as bad as the first half. She had developed a stick that was supposed to repel those mutant mole rats. Instead, it pretty much killed them all. And the cherry on top was that their nest was also inhabited by raiders, whom I had the pleasure of dispatching as well. On another note, it is alarming how much I have to kill other people. It makes me sick sometimes, but I hate to say that I've already lost count of how many raiders I've killed. It has been less than two weeks, and that I could say this makes me depressed. No wonder people out here are so unfriendly. We're all murderers in a way.

Anyway, after the mole rats, I was tasked with placing an observer in a nest of mirelurks. I actually feel pretty smart, because I sneaked in through the back to place the observer in the nest. I did have to pick the lock, but it saved me a lot of trouble in the long run. And a lot of pain. Of course, I might have saved myself some time by getting hurt, because no sooner had I arrived back than Moira wanted me to hurt myself so she could study the effects of bodily harm. Unfortunately for me, I just take too good a care for myself. To remedy this, I just jumped off a relatively big drop, not only spraining both ankles, but fracturing my rib as well. At least she always fixes me up after these ridiculous requests.

With that done, we were in the final stretch of her book. The last thing she wanted to touch on was humanity. How it was in the past and how it was moving on. Her first idea was for me to head over to the rob-co facility and attach some sort of widget to the mainframe. Given how well her Molerat repellent I was skeptical that this device would actually work. Thank God, I decided to stop by to get it checked out. It turns out there were some survivors from a different vault. There were four living there at the time. A dad and his son. A girl, who I think was involved with the son, and his friend. I asked him for help, and it is good I did because if I hadn't that widget would have lit up the entire facility with angry robots. I had to pay him of course, but I think it was worth not getting torn apart by robots.

I was actually excited to see survivors from another vault, but they weren't really that interested in talking to me. The father, whose name is Kevin, was a scientist on something called project Purity. Unlike vault 101, their vault had been much more open than ours. Within the last few years they'd begun experimenting with cloning, and had cloned a cancer patient. From what Kevin was saying, they went crazy after a while and killed everyone. Most of the residents of the vault who weren't killed by the clones escaped into the wasteland, but Kevin and his family were the only ones in Canterbury.

The other three were around my age. Jake, Kate, and Randy. Jake seemed to think I was stupid or something, and despite the fact I told him multiple times that I wasn't some wasterat, I was from a vault and knew how to read. But apparently a lack of knowledge when it comes to electronics equates to a lack of knowledge in general. That really rubbed me the wrong way, and if I never see him again I won't complain.

The other two were pretty quiet. The girl was named Kate, and she pretty much agreed with whatever Jake was saying. I haven't really got a good impression of her, because I never talked to her one on one. The other boy, Randy, seemed cheerful but wouldn't really look at me. I didn't have much to talk to him about, and he seemed to be somewhat scared of me or something because he got nervous any time I tried to address him directly. I only stayed in Canterbury Commons for a couple days, and after I was done with the research for Moira's book I left.

The next task was pretty easy, and it required me to go to Rivet City and discover how the settlement really started. Rivet City itself was a rusty ship, the inside smelled pretty bad, but according to everyone I asked there it was pretty safe. They even had an extendable bridge to keep out undesirables. It took a bit of legwork, but by asking around a little bit I was able to learn a bit about how the city was founded. I started by speaking with Vera Weatherly, and she told me to ask a man named Seagrave Holmes (who'd lived in the city most of his life.) He pointed me toward the Broken Bow of the ship, where he figures one of the founders is hiding out. When I asked him why anyone would do that, he said something about the woman running the science lab didn't get along with him. His name was supposedly Horace Pinkerton, but most of the guards seemed to believe that he was dead.

Getting into the Broken Bow of the ship was a pain. The main entrance was locked, so I had to swim and use the side door. From there I had to deal with a couple of mirelurks, but after a certain point I was sure Pinkerton was living down here. He'd set numerous traps, but eventually I made it to him in one piece. He was a crotchety old man and had a lot of animosity toward Dr. Li (the woman who'd replaced him), but had given me all those files. I didn't really bother reading many of them, but handed them all off to Moira.

The last thing I had to do was visit an old library in Arlington and retrieving some data from there. I've never been to D.C before, but I made it there okay. It wasn't too deep in I guess, because I didn't encounter any of those horror stories (I.e ghouls and super mutants), nor did I have to use the metro to get there. Anyway, the library was being guarded by the Brotherhood of Steel, and in exchange for helping clear out the raiders that were previously inhabiting it, she gave me the password to the terminal and advice on where to find the rest of my data. With the help of two Brotherhood Soldiers I was able to get through and find the rest of Moira's data. With that I'm done with the Wasteland Survival Guide, and thank god for it. It also means I can't stay with Moira anymore but that isn't so bad, because I've earned enough caps to be able to rent a room at Moriarty's skeevy saloon. This has been a pretty long entry, and my hand is cramping up.

So long,

Katherine


	3. Megaton

_September 5, 2277_

Since wrapping up the Wasteland Survival Guide I haven't been doing anything major. Just odd jobs around Megaton. Doing the survival guide sort of depleted my supply of stimpacks, and while I have more money now I need it for food and water. Moriarty's prices are ridiculous, but Gob will sometimes give me an under the table discount. Now that I've been spending more time around Gob and Nova, I'm starting to like them better. I'll be stuck in Megaton for awhile until I can find a way to get more stims, so spending time with them isn't so bad.

I'm pretty sure that Gob is Moriarty's slave, which really pisses me off. He beats on him too, and takes a lot of shit from the residents of Megaton. Even more than before I try and be nice to him, even if he looks disgusting. From what he is telling me all ghouls used to be human once too.

Nova is pretty sweet, despite what she has to do. I even talked to her about the whole drama in the vault with Freddie. Despite how much worse she has it, she was pretty sympathetic. I wish there was something I could do for both of them. Moriarty is horrible all around, and I'm sure that most people would be better off without him. Every night it seems like he wants to charge me more and more. There is only one room available, and despite the fact that almost no one ever comes through here, he says scarcity drives up the price of all economic goods. I think it's bull, and if this keeps up I'm going to run out of money. Doing odd jobs around town isn't proving fruitful at all. Lucas Simms still wants me to try and defuse the bomb, and since I handled the landmines I thought I might be able to handle it. But no, it is way over my head, and I'm more likely to blow myself up than defuse it.

If only I had more stimpacks, I could get out of here and wouldn't have to rely on Moriarty for a place to stay. I only have two left, and if I want to make it to Galaxy News Radio, I'm going to need a lot more than that.

 _September 7, 2277_

Lately I've been going out during the day to scavenge nearby areas. I avoid the raider base over in the school, but have actually had some luck in other places. I'm going slowly and cautiously because of my lack of medication, but I'm doing alright so far. I can harvest scrap to sell the town mechanic Walter. I try to conceal how much money I'm making, because if Moriarty knew how much I actually made he'd raise the price of my room again. Still, slowly I'm beginning to save up enough caps and supplies to trade for more stimpacks. I don't think it'll be too long before I can kiss this place goodbye and finally catch up with my dad.

 _September 10, 2277_

God, I hate Moriarty! He raised the price of my room again, and he damn well knows I can't afford it. I told him that outright, and he said the only way he would lower the price is if I did something for him. At first it was just a job. Getting back some money owed to him by some woman named Silver in Springvale. I felt bad getting me money from her because it looked like she really needed it. I think she was addicted to chems. Still, I did what I had to do to get the money from her. I'm not exactly proud of it but I did what I had to. At least she isn't dead.

That barely satisfied him, because the next day he wanted to raise the price even higher. This time, he offered to let me pay the fee in other ways. This made me sick to my stomach. I had far too much pride to just let him do that to me, and of course I refused. I had to dip into my savings to pay the rent for the night. The next day it was even higher. I'm beginning to see how he keeps Nova and Gob here, but there isn't really much I can do about it. My savings is back down to 250 caps, and the last fee was nearly a hundred. At the rate things are going I'll never be able to make enough caps daily to satisfy him.

I'm afraid he's trying to trap me here too, but really there isn't anything I can do about it. For the moment I'll just have to keep working hard to scavenge enough caps to pay my daily fee.

 _September 16, 2277_

Things are becoming unbearable around here. More often than not I don't find enough scrap to pay Moriarty for my room. I still refuse to sink so low as to sell myself, but I've taken to finding my own food out in the wastes. While I was working on the Wasteland Survival guide with Moira she gave me a food sanitizer, so as long as I kill some animal out there I can eat that. I can get free water from the tap. I'm running low on Rad-x so I'll have to add that to my laundry list of supplies. Sometimes I'll steal food from the Stahl's noodle stand when they aren't looking. They have so much, and warm noodles are so hard to come by. I usually leave the bowls out back after I'm done with them, but it really is difficult to take any without noticing.

I went into the clinic to ask Doc Church how much he charges for stimpacks. I was able to barter him down to 60 caps apiece, but so far I haven't even got that much in savings. I told him as soon as I get the money I'll buy 20 of them for my journey into the ruins of the city. Doc Church is a bit gruff, but he seems like an alright guy. He has a lot on his plate, and his supplies are pretty low as it is. I sell him any chems I come across while scavenging, especially the Med-x.

I'm pretty overwhelmed most days, and I usually don't have time to write. I get up as early as possible to go scavenge the area around me, and come back just before dark. I finally got up the nerve to go clear out those raiders living in the old elementary school in Springvale. Usually I don't go out of my way to kill people, but there was some good loot there. I think it's all right, because those raiders have caused problems for Megaton in the past. I told Simms what I'd done, and while he was happy I'd done it he didn't seem inclined to help me in any other way. He told me that all the loot I'd gotten off of them was reward enough. I beg to disagree.

Sometimes I wonder if I should just live in some of those intact buildings up in Minefield. I entertain the thought sometimes, but at the end of the day it really isn't safe over there. While I can lock any one of those houses, there isn't anything that guarantees no one will disturb me. It really would be awful if one day I came home to find everything I owned was gone.

 _September 18, 2277_

I heard something interesting from Jericho today. According to him, he knows where Moriarty keeps his stash of caps. I have no idea how much is in his safe, but it must be substantial because Moriarty keeps the key around his neck. Part of me wonders if I can get into that safe, maybe can just take the caps I need to pay for the supplies I need to go into the city. Maybe even a better gun and some armor. Then again there is really only one way to get the key without him noticing. I hate to say it, but it's getting harder and harder to justify saying no.

If I let him do it, then I won't have to work so hard. And I'll be a whore. For real this time. I just wish I could find my father and we could go back to the vault. Then Everything would be like it was before. Of course that can't happen. Nothing will ever be the same, even if they let us back in. Being out here really does change you. Thank god I have this journal, without it I don't know what I'd do.

 _September 21, 2277_

Things really can't get any worse. I know I should be thankful that I'm alive but I just can't. I almost wish that those raiders had managed to kill me. I guess I should start from the beginning. I was out scavenging over by Minefield. I keep having to go farther and farther to look for scrap to sell, and it has been a struggle to get back in time. I knew I wasn't going to make it back yesterday and it was dark by the time I started heading back. I got jumped by some raiders. God, I was so stupid. None of them had any guns, thank god.

I was walking back toward Megaton, rushing really because I wanted to get back before Moira closed up shop, when they fell on me. I'm mortified that I wasn't paying more attention. They got me over the head and I fell to the ground stunned. They beat me for a while, and I guess they thought I was too far gone to survive. After that they stole all my gear and left. I must have passed out, because later I woke up when I felt a wet nose press into my cheek. At first I just lay there, accepting that whatever it was would kill me. Then it licked me.

It was a dog, and not one of those mangy ones I see all the time. It was a good, healthy dog.

I forced myself into a sitting position, and my body alighted in agony. The dog gave a pitiful whine and watched me. In spite of myself I smiled at it. It was a beautiful dog.

"Are you going to eat me?" I asked. The dog barked, affronted, but remained seated on his haunches. After a few moments I pulled myself to my feet. "Did something happen to your owner?"

Of course it was a dog, so it had nothing to say to me. I hobbled back toward Minefield, because really I didn't have any better options. By checking my pip-boy I discovered that I hadn't even been out for thirty minutes, but even still anything could have happened in that time. I went into the first house, and to my surprise the dog slipped in past me. I didn't have the energy to try and get it out. Besides, company would be nice.

I locked to door, and then collapsed on the couch. I was pretty sure there'd be a bedroom upstairs, but right now I didn't have the energy to make it up there. I groaned to myself as I gingerly lay on the couch. I probably would have been more comfortable upstairs, but I was pretty much committed. I looked over at the dog. I must have said, "you'll keep watch over me right?"

To my surprise, it barked affirmative. Despite the pain I was in, I slept pretty well.

The next morning I was insanely sore, but thankfully I hadn't been hurt too badly yesterday. It was then that I took inventory of everything that I'd lost. All my firearms, both the old laser pistol and the 10 mm that Amata had given me, and all their ammo. Most of my food, but they'd left my canteen which was still filled with water. They hadn't found my caps (which I had sewn into the side of my bag), but they had taken all of my medicine. My Rad-Away, stimpacks, and all of my chems. They also left my scrap, probably because they didn't have any need for it.

I swore to myself. I was I no condition to be using melee weapons, not without some Med-X first. Despite knowing I'd already searched the house weeks ago, I searched it again for anything I might have missed. I did find a rusty old kitchen knife, but no chems or food. Unsurprising, as I had carefully combed through it before.

I was in serious need of caps, because I'm far too small to try and use a small knife as my only defense. When I left the house late that morning, the dog barked and lead me to a junkyard. Like most places out here, it smelled like rot. This time, the reason was fairly apparent. There were three dead raiders and one dead trader. All four of them looked fairly recent, within the last two or three days at most.

"Was this your owner?" I asked, gesturing toward scavver on the ground in front of me. The dog whined, and I knew then that I just had to keep him. "That's alright, I've lost someone too. We can be lost together. Do you suppose there are any supplies around here?"

The dog barked again, and surprisingly brought over a vial of Med-X. I wasn't complaining, and wasted no time injecting it. Immediately I heaved a sigh of relief as the pain dulled. It wasn't a great idea to be tweaking out here, but I needed to function through all this. After that the two of us took the unfortunate task of searching the bodies. One of the raiders had a beat up 10 mm pistol and a scant amount of ammo. No one had any food, but the trader had some nice loot. He must have been carrying medicine, because he had two stimpacks on him, some purified water, and an assortment of scrap.

For the rest of the day I looked around for food, and managed to find something to eat for both Dogmeat and me. Having learned my lesson from the day before I made my way back to the house in Minefield. I locked the door, and this time went upstairs. The building was more or less intact, and so was the bed. There was a double bed in the largest bedroom, and although it lacked bedding or pillows I fell gratefully into it. The dog followed, and I patted his head absently. I'm terrible at naming things, but I finally settled on Dogmeat.

As we were laying there I listed to the radio. The DJ, Three Dog, was far too energetic for my current mood. At first he talked about my involvement in the Wasteland Survival guide, and applauded my research methods. Then, he brought up my dad. This both triggered relief and frustration.

Relief, because Dad was okay. He'd made it to Galaxy News Radio. He was both well prepared and competent to survive out here. But I was frustrated because he was already weeks ahead of me. This incident had set me back. Far back.

Sensing my distress, Dogmeat moved in closer and gave a soft whine. He rested his head on my chest and sighed. I touched his ears absently, only one thought in my head as I drifted to sleep.

Moriarty's safe, and how I was going to get what was inside.


End file.
